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Musharraf invited due to opposition pressure: BJP

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Bhartiya Janata Party parliamentary spokesperson Vijay Kumar Malhotra on Monday claimed that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had invited the President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf on the insistence of opposition parties.

Malhora made this claim while speaking to reporters who wanted to know how Vajpayee had extended the invitation to Pervez Musharraf.

Malhotra pointed out that opposition parties had been asking the government 'why are you putting objections in talking to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue?'

He said the international community too had been favouring Indo-Pakistan dialogue on the Kashmir issue.

Asked whether the prime minister would go to Islamabad on General Musharraf's invitation, Malhotra said the prime minister would consult the opposition on this matter.

He launched a frontal attack on General Pervez Musharraf saying that the recent Amarnath massacre had taken the mask off his contention that he did not believe in violence.

He also pointed out that it would be wrong to stop army personnel from carrying out operations against the militants in the name of human rights because the 'Pakistani terrorists' particularly those coming from Sudan and Afghanistan were killing innocent people including women and children in the valley.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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